


California

by dlodle0



Category: NCIS
Genre: A little bit of sadness with a happy ending, F/M, Inspired by the song Austin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-05 09:20:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25468423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dlodle0/pseuds/dlodle0
Summary: A short fic inspired by the song Austin by Blake Shelton
Relationships: Ellie Bishop/Nick Torres, Jethro Gibbs/Jacqueline "Jack" Sloane
Comments: 16
Kudos: 83





	California

**Author's Note:**

> As always y'all can find me on tumblr and Insta at we-take-care-of-each-others

“I’m going to run this over to Jack.” Ellie stood as the team meeting with Vance came to an end, case file in her hand. “Maybe she can help us.”

“She isn’t there.” Gibbs hardly looked up as he said the words.

“Well then she’ll get it when she comes in.” Ellie shrugged, making her way to the door. “I’m sure she won’t mind.”

“She’s not coming in. Jack left.” 

“What?” Everyone but Vance echoed, staring at Gibbs. The two older men locked eyes and Ellie turned to the director. 

“You knew about this?”

“And if I did, Agent Bishop?” His tone let her know she was on thin ice and when Nick touched her arm, she backed down. She shook her head at Gibbs and headed towards the door, McGee and Nick behind her.

“Jack wouldn’t have just left. This isn’t like her. Where do you think she went?” She was already thinking of how to find Jack and bring her home as they headed down the stairs. 

“Bishop, I-” McGee held his arms out in a shrug. “Best guess? She went back to California. She talked about it all the time.”

“But we’re going to look for her right?” She asked as they reached the bottom of the stairs. Instead of turning right towards the bullpen, she turned left to the little pocket of space where they often talked. “We have to look for her.”

“We aren’t looking for her.” Gibbs cut through their conversation. His voice was rough, “Are you three going to to stand there all day or are you going to get back to work?”

“Gibbs-” Bishop immediately protested. She took a step forward, looking up at where he still was on the stairs, leaning over the railing.

“It wasn't up for debate. Get back to work.” Before she could protest again, he had turned disappearing towards the bullpen.

“We can’t just let this happen!” She insisted but McGee was already following their boss back. Nick took her arm gently, 

“Come on, El.”

XXX

McGee and Nick packed their things as the day came to an end. Nick stopped in front of Ellie’s desk, “You coming?” She shook her head silently and Nick nodded. “Yeah that’s what I thought. Be careful B.”

Once he was gone, she turned in her chair so she was facing Gibbs. He didn’t look up from the paper he was signing for a minute before slowly looking up, giving her plenty of time to look away. When she didn’t, he raised an eyebrow, “Something on your mind?”

“Yeah.” She got up and came around to the front of his desk. “What are you doing?”

“What?”

“I said, what are you doing? Jack is gone.”

“Yeah. I know.”

“You know but you’re just sitting there like it doesn’t mean anything. It’s like you don’t even care!”

“Of course I care!” He stood quickly, anger rising. “But she made her choice. She left us, Bishop and I’m tired of chasing people.” He grabbed his jacket and left before she could say another word.

XXX

Jack looked down at the phone in her hand, the ever familiar number typed across the screen. It had been nearly a year since she had left DC. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, pressing the call button. She counted each ring, tense as she awaited his voice. She expected him to be furious and with every ring she started to wonder if he was so mad that he was actively ignoring her. Just when she was about to give up hope, she heard a small click and then a recording of his voice. “ If you're callin' 'bout the car I sold it. If this is Tuesday night I'm bowlin'. If you've got somethin' to sell your wastin' your time, I'm not buyin'. If it's anybody else wait for the tone you know what to do And P.S. if this is California I still love you.” 

Jack could barely keep her grip on the phone and she quickly hung up before letting it fall. Her vision was blurry and she leaned heavily on the counter. Her breath was coming fast and she struggled to get it under control again. She couldn’t believe his love for her, though he had never said it before she had left, was so strong that it held on through her leaving. She picked up her phone and wiped her eyes to pull herself together before going to get ready for bed.

For the next three days, the voicemail was all that Jack could think about. She thought about it in the shower, on her way to the beach, when she went out to lunch with friends. It consumed her every thought until Friday finally came around. Instead of going out like she had been, she begged off with the excuse of not feeling well. When she got home, she curled up on her couch before dialing the number again. This time she was more confident but she was just as disappointed when it clicked over to voicemail again. “If it's Friday night I'm at the ball game and first thing Saturday if it don't rain I'm headed out to the lake and I'll be gone all weekend long. But I'll call you back when I get home on Sunday afternoon and P.S. if this is California I still love you.”

This time she was prepared for it though it still brought tears to her eyes. She quickly rattled off her new number and hung up. Saturday morning, she looked up the weather in Alexandria to see if it was raining. When she saw the weather called for a beautiful sunny weekend, she knew she had to get out of the house or she would spend all day pacing and checking her phone. As much as she wanted to stay close by in case he called, she knew better than to torture herself. She drove out to the beach and spent the day at Sunset Cliffs, surfing in the familiar area. 

XXX

Gibbs got home and made his way down to the basement. He got started on the boat he was nearly finished, slowly putting a layer of varnish on top. He glanced up for a moment and then did a double take when he saw the light on his answering machine, letting him know he had a message. He put down the paintbrush, confused. As far as he knew, he hadn’t been expecting any calls. Most people who wanted to reach him nowadays just used his cell number. He made his way across the room and hit play on the old machine. There was a slight pause before the mechanical voice told him. “You have one new message.” The second he heard her voice rattling off a number he didn’t recognize he went still. He waited to see if she would say anything else before playing it again. He jotted down the number as she spoke, her voice soothing the anger he had been holding inside since she had left. After listening one last time, he dialed the number and waited. 

By the time Sunday afternoon had rolled around, Jack had been grocery shopping, gone to the gym and cleaned everything in her apartment. After having a light lunch, unable to control her nerves, she settled on her couch with a book. Her mind wandered as she struggled to stay focused. She re-read the page she was on at least three times before her phone rang. She hadn’t been more than a few feet from it and grabbed it instantly. She took a moment to compose herself before answering. She didn’t give him a chance to say anything, knowing she had to get what she had to say off her chest. “If you're calling bout my heart it's still yours. I should have listened to it a little more, then it wouldn't have taken me so long to know where I belong and by the way Cowboy this is no machine you're talking to. Can't you tell this is California and I still love you.” 

“Jack.” His voice was low and she gave a quiet noise, not realizing how much she had missed hearing the sound of his voice, especially when he was saying her name. “Where ya been?”

“Oh you know,” She did her best to play along, emotions running wild. “A little bit of everywhere. Mostly California though.” She looked out her front porch, comforted by the sight of the waves crashing. “Missed you.”

“You coulda called anytime.” 

“How is everyone? Nick, McGee, Ellie?” Her voice caught on the name of the youngest agent and she did her best to ignore what he said, knowing he was right. It had been her decision to leave and to cut them all off. It pained her when she realized how closely her actions resembled Ziva’s and how much that must have hurt everyone, most importantly him. Her voice softened even further, “How are  _ you _ ?”

“Better now.” It was an honest answer and said more than he was willing to speak aloud for the time being. “Pretty sure we’d all be better if you came home.” 

She almost protested, almost told him that she couldn’t just up and leave her life behind before remembering she had already done exactly that. “I’ll be on the first flight I can get tomorrow. You’ll pick me up?”

“Just tell me when.”

XXX

It was half past two in the afternoon when her plane landed and as she made her way to the pickup lot outside, Jack couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to see him again. She wasn’t prepared to walk out of the airport and see him, leaning against the old white pickup truck with flowers in his hand. She let go of the handle of her suitcase when he reached for it, tossing it gently in the back. Then they stood silently, almost awkwardly, as they really looked at each other for the first time in over a year. She was the first one to speak. 

“Hiya Cowboy.” She slowly reached out, giving him every opportunity to stop her before tracing the beard he had grown since she left. “New look?”

He caught her hand after a moment, bringing it to his lips. “Thoughts?”

She wrinkled her nose with a quiet laugh that made his heart skip a beat. “Can’t say I’m a fan.” 

He didn’t waste another minute, tugging her into a tight hug. He breathed in the scent of her shampoo, glad it was still the same sweet honey scent it had always been. “I’ll shave when we get back.”

“I made hotel reservations.” She pulled back just enough to see his face, not quite ready to give up the position they were in. He gave her a slightly annoyed look and she nodded with complete understanding. He didn’t want to be apart and if she was being honest, neither did she. “I’ll call and cancel.” She assured him.

He let go of her waist and held up the now slightly crumpled sunflowers. “Welcome home, Jack.”

They stopped by his house to drop off her suitcase and while they were there he shaved. Jack stayed downstairs, taking in the house while he was gone. Not much had changed and she sat at the dining room table, remembering all of the good times they had, poker nights and team dinners. She closed her eyes, sinking into the memories and his voice pulled her out. “Told the team I would try to check in before the end of the day. Do you want to come?”

“Yes.” Jack stood up immediately. “Yes, please.”

XXX

McGee was the first one to see Gibbs coming and he signaled his coworkers to get busy. It had been a rough year for all them with Gibbs being more irritable since Jack had left. He was less tolerant of them goofing off or getting off topic and after one too many times of Gibbs yelling at them, the team was almost down to a science of not getting caught. McGee quickly got up clicking a few pictures onto the screen as Nick joined him and Gibbs came closer. “Petty Officer Moore was found…” McGee trailed off when he saw who was with Gibbs and Nick frowned leaning around him to look.

The second Nick saw Jack, his frown disappeared and his whole face lit up as he ran over to her, pulling her into a tight hug. “Oh thank God, you’re back. Please don’t ever leave us again like that.”

Jack couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled out when Nick hugged her and she hugged him back just as tight. “Nick! Hey! You okay?” She pulled back, voice still light but her eyes serious as she scanned his face. He looked at Gibbs and then back to her. 

“Just don’t go again, okay?” He said before going back to work.

“Okay…” She echoed softly before greeting McGee. “Tim! How are the kids?” 

“They’re good. Just started school actually.” He pulled out his phone and showed her a few pictures of the twins. Jack oohed and awed at how much they had grown and how happy they looked. McGee put his phone away and looked between Jack and Gibbs similar to how Nick had. “Are you just visiting or?” His voice sounded hopeful and he looked away from Gibbs, knowing he was getting a glare. 

Jack took Gibbs hand in hers and gave a squeeze. “Pretty sure I’m staying.” It suddenly dawned on her that Ellie had been quiet during the whole exchange. She turned and frowned when she saw that Ellie was buried in her computer not even looking up. She took a few steps so she was directly in front of her desk. “Hey. What ya looking at?” She did her best to smile but the younger blonde hardly looked in her direction.

“I’m going over security footage.” Her tone was bored and it bordered on sounding annoyed that she was being interrupted. She opened a drawer and pulled out headphones, plugging them into her computer before completely going back to what she had been doing. Jack knew what a sign of dimissial looked like and stepped back, forcing up her smile again as she looked at the rest of his team. 

“Sounds like you guys are pretty busy. I’ll go visit with Leon and Kasie. Ducky still in the basement?”

“He is.” McGee confirmed and Jack sent him a grateful smile. She made her way back to Gibbs and leaned up, kissing his cheek.

“Come get me when you’re ready to go.”

He returned her kiss with one of his own and Jack headed upstairs. As she walked, she kept her eyes on Ellie, sure now that Ellie was ignoring her. Before she left, any sign of Gibbs and Jack being together would have been met with at least a smile, if not a million questions. The fact that she had hardly looked up let Jack know that she would have to try to talk to Ellie later. For now she did her best to put Ellie in the back of her mind as she greeted Pamela, the secretary quietly. “Hey.” 

Her head snapped up from the paperwork she had been going over and Jack quickly pressed a finger to her own lips, signalling for her to stay quiet. They shared a quick hug and Jack nodded to the door, a silent question. Pamela nodded in response and waved for her to go inside. 

Jack pushed the door open and smiled when she saw that he had his back to her as he talked on the phone. She made her way quietly across the room to pour them each a drink. She knew he had turned to see who it was when his sentence was cut short. He cleared his throat and spoke again. “Kayla, I’ll call you back. Yes. Yes, everything is fine. I just have a visitor.” 

She heard the click of the phone and took a sip of the amber liquid in her glass. He came up beside her and she offered him the other glass. He took it, taking a drink before speaking. “When did you get back?”

“Not long. Two hours tops.” She swirled the liquid in her cup before finally meeting his eyes. 

“How long are you back for?”

“Hopefully a long time.”

He held out his glass and she smiled as they clinked together. “Well then, your office is exactly how you left it.”

  
  


XXX

By the time Jack made it back to the bullpen after visiting with everyone, both Nick and Ellie had already left. McGee was just finishing up his paperwork and joined them in the elevator. When it reached the lobby, he grinned at Jack. “It’s good to have you back.”

“It’s good to be back.” She answered though her mind was elsewhere. As they made their way to the parking lot, she scanned the lot for Ellie’s blue truck. When she came up empty, she looked around again, seeing that Nick’s jeep was also gone. Gibbs looked over at her, “Jack, something wrong?”

“Yeah.” She was already pulling out her phone to request a Lyft. “There’s someone I need to go see.” She didn’t need to look away from her phone to see the look he was giving her. After requesting the Lyft, she looked up into his eyes. “I have to talk to Ellie. I’ll be back soon.” 

He gave a short nod, kissing her head. “See ya at home, Sloane.”

The ride to Ellie’s house was quick and before she knew it, Jack was knocking on Ellie’s door. She watched the shadow appear under the door, letting her know that Ellie was looking through the peephole. She heard an aggravated sigh and the shadow moved, the door remaining closed. “Go away.”

“Ellie, you can’t stay mad at me forever.”

“Watch me.” Ellie was fully aware of just how childish she sounded but she didn’t care.

Jack leaned her head against the door. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I hurt you. I know it’s going to take time before you forgive me but please just talk to me.”

The door swung open so fast and with so much force that Jack nearly stumbled. “Now you want to talk? Now?” Ellie was seething with rage, hissing each word. “What about when I spent three months calling you multiple times, hoping that you would finally answer, that we would finally know if you were alright only to hear ‘I’m sorry. The number you are trying to reach has been disconnected?’ What about the emails I sent? Where I got an email back saying the address couldn’t be found? You didn’t want to talk then. I tried talking to you. You didn’t want to. You don’t get to just decide when you’re going to be in our lives. You either are or you aren’t.” Ellie had both of her arms wrapped around her waist as if hugging herself. 

Jack reached out to touch her arm, “Ellie…”

“Don’t.” Ellie snapped as she stepped away from Jack’s reach. “Just don’t. There is nothing you could say that can fix this. You have no idea what you leaving did to us, to him!”

“Ellie I-”

A door across the hall opened and an elderly woman frowned deeply at Jack. “Eleanor, are you all right?”

“We’re fine Mrs. Watson, Thank you.” All of the anger swept out of Ellie’s voice as she sent her neighbor a sweet smile. But her eyes didn’t lose any of the ice held onto Jack’s.The three stood awkwardly for a minute before Ellie relented, stepping aside so Jack was able to get into the apartment. She smiled at her neighbor again before closing the door. Her smile dropped back into a scowl when she turned to Jack. “She means well but she can be a bit nosy. Give her about ten minutes and she’ll lose interest and then you should be good to go.” Ellie pulled her hair back out of her face as she went back to the painting she had been working on before Jack arrived.

Jack stared at her “So that’s it?”

“What else do you want me to say, Jack? That we were all heartbroken when you left? Because we were. You want me to tell you this has been the roughest year I’ve ever had working under Gibbs? How for the first couple of months after you left, he worked us so hard that Vance had to threaten to transfer all of us before he let up? I didn’t see my house for two weeks after you left. We slept at work to get him off our backs. So yeah. That’s it.” Ellie was nearly in tears by the time she finished and she swung her paint brush, splattering the ocean painting the pink she had been adding to the sunrise. 

Jack sighed, “Honey…”

“Did you even think about what you leaving was going to do? Did you even care?” Ellie put the paintbrush down, her voice losing her anger as she sunk into the couch. 

“Of course I cared.” Jack took the risk of joining Ellie on the couch. She was surprised when this time when she reached out, Ellie let her take her hand. “I thought I was doing the right thing for all of us. I made a mistake and I know this isn’t something I can fix overnight but I’m not going anywhere this time.”

“When did you realize you had made a mistake?”

“About a month after I got there. I left thinking that if I could go back to California, it would get rid of this off feeling I had been having. Only when I got there, it got worse and I realized what it was that I was missing.”

“Him?”

Jack gave a soft laugh and squeezed Ellie’s hand. “Amongst other things. But I thought there was no coming back from what I had done so it took the rest of the year to get up the courage to call.”

“Are you really going to stay?” This time when Ellie looked at her, there was no ice or fire in her eyes, only pain and Jack felt her heart clench.

“If he’ll have me.”

“He will.” Ellie assured her, her guard coming down a little further. “Have you heard his answering machine message?”

“I have. Do you know when he changed it?”

“I called him one night about a week after you left. I couldn’t get him to answer his cell so I called the house and I had to check to make sure I had dialed the right number. I’ve never heard him so… desperate before. I never thought that he would admit that he loves you, especially like that.”

“Neither did I and if I’m being honest, that’s part of why I left.” Jack shook her head, “Enough about me and him. What about you? How have you been?”

“Well I mean like I said he’s been pretty grumpy so it’s mostly just been a lot of work.”

“And outside of work?” Jack wasn’t dumb, she could see the signs that a man had been visiting Ellie, if not living with her. 

Ellie seemed flustered by the question and before Jack could push, the door to the apartment opened. “Okay Babe. I got the watermelon, Nutella and the sprinkles you like but they were all out of pickled bologna.” Nick pulled a face as he set the items down in the kitchen. Upon hearing about the food, Ellie perked up and headed towards the kitchen, Jack following behind her. 

“Thank God. I thought you’d never get back. I’m starving.” Ellie got out a cutting board and a knife out. She easily cut the watermelon in two, handing one half to Nick. On the half that remained on the board, she spread most of a jar of Nutella before covering it with sprinkles. She grabbed a spoon and took a big bite before realizing that Jack was watching. She flushed deeply before swallowing hard, unsure what to address first. The fact that Nick had so casually walked in and called her babe or the odd concoction she had started to devour. “Uh-”

“I really have missed a lot, haven’t I?” Now truly looking at Ellie, Jack was able to see all the signs she had missed. Her glowing skin and the slight bump she could just make out under the Oklahoma State sweatshirt Ellie had on. She felt her eyes well with tears and within seconds, Ellie had closed the distance between them as they both began to cry. They hugged for a while and once they were able to calm down enough, Jack pulled back to gently wipe Ellie’s cheeks. “H-how far along are you?”

“Only a few months. We haven’t really started telling anyone yet.”

“When did you two get together?” Jack was truly feeling the gravity of everything that she had missed. Once upon a time, she would have been one of the first to know about Nick and Ellie. “Was it planned? Does Gibbs at least know?”

“We got together the month after you left. Vance made us all take some time off and it just sorta happened. No, the pregnancy wasn’t planned and not yet, I was planning on telling him next week. Vance knows and he’s been able to keep me busy enough to keep me out of the field. I start desk duty next week which is why we need to tell Gibbs.”

“He’s not suspicious?” 

“I don’t think so.” Ellie went back to eating. “I mean he’s been pretty out of it since you left but I eat weird food all the time anyway and Vance told him that I’m on an assignment so he pretty much doesn’t question it when Vance says he needs me.” 

“I won’t say anything.” Jack crossed her heart before checking the time. Nearly two hours had passed since she had arrived. “But I should probably head back.” She waited until Ellie’s eyes met hers. “Are we okay?”

“You were right earlier. You can’t fix this overnight.” Her tone was serious and Jack could feel her heart sinking in her stomach until Ellie gave her a small smile. “But yeah, I think we will be.” 

They shared another quick hug and Jack looked over Ellie’s shoulder to Nick as they did. She went over to him, giving him his own hug. “Congratulations. You two will be  _ amazing  _ parents.” 

XXX

Jack wasn’t surprised to find him in the basement when she got back to his house. She had barely made it through the door when he called out to her. “Jack, that you?”

“Yeah, it’s me. I’m coming down.” She slipped out of her heels before going to join him.

“How’d it go?” He asked as she made her way down the stairs. He watched as she looked around for an empty glass before just offering her his.

“As well as it could have.” She drank what was left in the cup before filling it halfway again, this time sipping the drink.

“You wanna talk about it?”

“She’s angry and she has every right to be. You all do.” Jack leaned against the workbench and closed her eyes. “She yelled for a few minutes but I know that a lot of her anger comes from the fact that I hurt her. It’ll take time but I think we’ll be okay.”

“Nick there?”

“He stopped by, yes.” Jack didn’t open her eyes but her brow furrowed. “Why do you ask?”

“She tell you about the baby?”

Jack’s eyes snapped open. “You know?”

“Course I know Jack. They’re my team. Torres wasn’t exactly subtle about it when they got together and the snacks he’s been bringing her lately are things only a pregnant woman would dream up.”

“They think you don’t know.”

He scoffed but it was cut with laughter. “I’m not as clueless about love as everyone thinks I am.”

“That so?” She teased lightly and he stopped what he was doing to look up at her.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“All I’m saying Cowboy is that you told me you loved me over an answering machine.”

“Maybe I was telling you all along and you weren’t listening.”

“I’m listening now.”

That was all the encouragement he needed. He stopped what he was doing and walked over to her, gently raising her chin. “Meant every word I said.” He lowered his lips to hers and let out a quiet grunt when she quickly pulled him flush against her. They lost track of time as they stood there, pressed against the workbench. To his surprise, it was Jack who pulled away first, hand pressing suddenly on his chest. “Wait.”

That was all it took. He immediately stopped, moving to give her space. His hand caught hers as he scanned her face, trying to figure out what had gone wrong. “What? What’s wrong?”

“I don’t want to do this. Not like this. Not now.”

“We don’t have to do anything you aren’t ready for.” He whispered against her temple as he shifted her back into his arms. “Just stay.”

“Always.”

**Author's Note:**

> I used the song lryics so part of it might have been a little OOC but I did my best!


End file.
